First published in 1881, this book tells the story of Frederick Courteney Selous, generally acknowledged as the greatest African hunter of all time. While Selous was first and foremost a hunter, he was also a close personal friend of President Theodore Roosevelt and a naturalist whose careful observations and succinct writings were read by layman and scholar alike. The African wing of the British Museum of Natural History is named after him, and the crack special forces unit in the Zimbabwe War of Independence was named the Selous Scouts.